Sweet Potato & Lentil Stew

This is one of my favourite stews, perfect for cold winter nights. It’s quite filling from the lentils, and a little bit sweet and squishy from the sweet potatoes and cinnamon, which all together make for a wonderfully comforting meal. Serve on a bed of rice with a homemade bread roll – perfect!

Ok so this isn’t the best photo, as I used red coral rice instead of my usual brown rice. Not a great contrast… but I’m sure you can still see the stew well enough🙂

Sweet Potato & Lentil Stew

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil (I used coconut oil)

1 medium onion, diced

2 small tomatoes, diced (I have previously used semi-dried tomatoes when I didn’t have fresh ones)

1 tsp grated or minced ginger (I used grated)

1 1/2 tsp turmeric (I used fresh turmeric instead of the powder)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Fine sea salt

3 medium sweet potatoes, cut into approx. 2cm cubes

7 cups (1.75L) vegetable stock

1 cup brown lentils

Method:

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, deep pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 2mins or until the onion starts to soften. Stir in the tomatoes and ginger and cook for 3mins. Stir in the turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and a small pinch of salt. Cook and stir for 2mins.

Add the sweet potatoes, broth and lentils. Stir well, and bring to a boil over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 40mins or until the lentils and sweet potatoes are soft. (I actually simmered it for a bit longer and took the lid off, which made it thicken up a bit. Probably simmered for roughly 1.25hrs total)